Displays Of Affection
by etmuse
Summary: After Tamwar has gone, Christian and Syed have a few things to talk about.


The warm relief inspired by Tamwar's hug lingered as Syed let himself back into Christian's flat. No, not Christian's flat anymore – _theirs_. Even if pretty much everything in it belonged to Christian. Including Syed, if he was going to let himself get soppy.

The dinner, despite a few moments where it looked close to descending into disaster, had been a success. A contented smile stole across Syed's face as he pushed open the flat door and found Christian elbow deep in bubbles in the sink.

For a moment he didn't say anything, just watched as Christian rinsed a plate and set it on the drainer. A tiny moment of domesticity, but it meant so much. How could he have denied himself this for so long? Now that he'd experienced this last week of sharing a house – a _home_ - with the man he adored, he didn't think he'd ever be able to give it up.

"Are you just going to stand there admiring my arse or are you going to get over here and give me a hand?" Christian said without turning around or pausing in his scrubbing.

Syed let his eyes drift downwards as he made his way across the flat. "Well, it's a very nice arse," he grinned as he grabbed a dishcloth. "Can you blame me?"

Christian bumped him with his shoulder. "You have my permission to stare at my arse any time you like."

"Good to know," Syed chuckled, picking up a wet glass. "I'll make sure to stare at it a lot more now that you've said it's allowed."

He nearly dropped the glass in surprise as a wet, soapy hand wrapped itself around the back of his neck. "For future reference, you can do anything you want to any part of me, except break my heart," Christian murmured hotly before dipping his head to capture Syed's lips with his own.

Syed leant into the kiss, savouring the hot press of lips. The knowledge that they could just _do_ this, that if he wanted to kiss Christian then he could, no subterfuge required, still gave him a quiet thrill. He suspected it would be a while before the novelty wore off, especially when kissing Christian was just so _good_. His eyes drifted closed as he leisurely explored the ever more familiar territory of Christian's mouth.

He was jolted out of his haze as a trickle of cooling water dripped down his back.

"Oi, your hand's all wet," he complained as he pulled away, swatting at Christian with the dishtowel he'd somehow managed to keep a grip on. He wriggled, trying ineffectively to stop the cold drip from making its way right down his back.

Christian retorted by flicking a soap bubble at him from the sink. "You weren't complaining about my wet hands this morning."

Syed shot him a look as he put the now dry glass away in the cupboard. "We were in the shower. That doesn't count."

Christian shrugged and put another plate onto the drainer. "Technicalities."

They worked in comfortable silence for a few minutes, finishing the last of the dinner dishes in perfect synchronicity. Syed was struck for a moment with the memory of doing this so long ago – back before he'd even kissed Christian for the first time, before all of the mess that had followed. More than a year ago… he'd wasted so much time.

Stacking the last dry plate on the pile to go back into the cupboard, he handed Christian the dishtowel to dry his hands. He glanced quickly around the flat; there was nothing remaining to indicate the dinner had even taken place. (He'd been conscious when cooking it that, whatever Christian said about the lack of perfection required in the flat, making too much of a mess twice in a week might put the relationship under a little strain.)

"So, that could have gone worse," he said, twisting to lean back on the edge of the counter.

Christian dropped the dishcloth on the counter and leant beside him, a hand slipping around Syed's waist. Syed shuffled closer to him, pasting himself along Christian's side, the contact comforting after the stress he'd put himself under earlier that evening.

"Tam's okay?" Christian asked; Syed tilted his head to meet his eyes as he looked down at him.

"Yeah, I think so." He ran through his last exchange with Tamwar in his head. "He still wants to spend time together, at least." He dropped his head against Christian's shoulder. "I've got my brother back. Even if he has to hide the fact that he's seeing me from mum and dad."

Christian stiffened against him. "If they're not going to accept you themselves, can't they at least accept that Tam _is_?"

Syed shrugged a little. He suspected from what Tamwar _hadn't_ said that he and their parents had already clashed a few times on this topic. "I'm not supposed to exist to the family anymore. I don't want to get Tam into trouble for going against that."

There was a low growl in his ear as Christian spun him into his arms. "You've come to terms with the fact that you can be with me and still be Muslim. Why can't your family?"

"We've been through this already," Syed sighed, snaking his arms around Christian's back. "And I think Tam is getting there. He was worried about my soul earlier, but… well, I'm not sure he entirely believes yet, but he respects that _I_ have faith in Allah's love for me."

There was a worried furrow between Christian's eyebrows that Syed's fingers itched to smooth away. "Nothing he said gave you second thoughts about this, did it?"

The untempered fear in Christian's voice gave Syed an uncomfortable feeling in his chest. He stretched up, kissing Christian warmly, briefly, hoping to ease his mind. "_Nothing_ could give me second thoughts about us," he said intently, staring hard into Christian's eyes. "I know I've made the right decision, and I told Tam the same thing. This is who I am; being with you is the best feeling I've ever had."

He tightened his arms around Christian's back, pressing himself close, feeling Christian's arms squeeze him tighter in turn. The softness in Christian's gaze warmed him to his soul. "I know now that I've found where I'm supposed to be for the rest of my life," he murmured. "You couldn't get rid of me now if you tried."

He snorted at himself a little as he listened back in his head to what he'd just said. "You've already infected me with your cheesiness," he smiled. "There's no turning back from that."

Happiness diffused across Christian's face as he chuckled. "I guess we can be cheesy together until the end, then," he said, "because I have no plans on ever letting you go again. I love you, and that's all that matters."

Syed closed his eyes for a moment and dropped his head onto Christian's shoulder; there was a brief pressure on the side of his head from Christian's lips, and Syed instinctively nuzzled into his neck. "I love you too," he said, straightening again so he could meet Christian's eyes. "Even if I do get a bit funny about showing it sometimes."

Christian shook his head fondly. "I told you, it's okay if you need me to back off a bit sometimes."

"I know," Syed nodded. "But I don't want you to have to do that for me. Even Tam said… well, he pointed out that maybe I should be trying a bit harder to fit into your world, after everything you've done to try to understand mine."

"Yeah, look how smoothly I did _that_." Christian rolled his eyes.

"Well, yeah, but still. You tried. If you want to hold my hand, or put your arm around me, or kiss me… I want you to be able to do that, no matter where we are. Without my stupid hang-ups getting in the way."

"They're not stupid," Christian said firmly.

Syed raised his eyebrows and looked at Christian. "Yeah, they really are," he said with a smile. "And I do want to get past them, it's just…" Untangling himself, he stepped back out of Christian's arms and turned out of the kitchen. "Whenever I think of displaying our affection publicly…" He threw his hands up as he dropped onto the sofa. "There's a block in my head, or something."

Christian sank down beside him, a hand resting on Syed's leg, thumb caressing gently. Syed covered it with his own.

"I spent so long hiding who I was – even from myself. It's become ingrained." He twisted, turning so he could curl into Christian's side. "I think this might be another of those things I'm going to need your help with."

Christian's slow smile sent a tingle down Syed's spine that tightened in his gut. "I can definitely do that," he murmured, wrapping his fingers in Syed's hair.

Drawn like a magnet, Syed let himself be pulled down into the sofa on top of Christian, their lips already sealed together.

Tomorrow, they'd start to deal with his issues with public displays of affection. Tonight… well, it couldn't hurt to get in a bit of practise in private first.


End file.
